Sunday, December 5, 2010

Well, not really. But given the, ahem, response to the posting of my All-SEC ballot (why did I do that again?) I thought it might be useful to offer up a few explanations.

- A.J. Green: Look, he missed one-third of the season. As I said before, I believe Green and Julio Jones are probably the two best receivers in the league. But this vote was not to assemble a team to send to China and best represent SEC football. It’s to recognize the players that had the best season.

Green still ended up having a fantastic eight games (49 catches for 771 yards and nine touchdowns.)

But Alshon Jeffery led the SEC with 1,387 receiving yards, and caught nine touchdown passes.

Randall Cobb tied with Jeffery for the SEC lead with 79 catches, had 955 receiving yards and 401 rushing, and combined for 12 touchdowns. He also had three passing touchdowns.

I think the world of Green’s ability as a receiver, and having covered him since he was a sophomore in high school, I like him as a person too. But when it comes to this ballot, I’m sorry, he missed four games, three of them SEC games. It’s as simple as that.

- Mike Pouncey: Honestly, there weren’t many extraordinary choices at center this year. (The ballot required one center and four linemen without regard to position.) Yes, there were some instances where Pouncey’s snaps did not go in the general direction of the quarterback. His blocking received better reviews, however.

Still, a debatable pick? I guess so!

- Cam Newton and Nick Fairley. A few of you said I must not have taken character into account, since these two guys are such slimeballs (at least in the minds of some.)

For the purposes of this this vote, I did not take character into account. It’ll be a different deal when it comes to the Heisman, however, where I believe some discretion is allowed.

As a beat writer, I’m limited a bit on how much opinion I can offer up, especially on issues that I’m covering, such as the Fairley late-hit story in the Georgia game. But if you were to buy me a beer sometime, maybe I’d open up a bit.

- Place-kicker: A few have complained about not voting for Blair Walsh. Here’s why I went with Josh Jasper: He was 26-for-31 on field goals, with two from longer than 50 yards, and there were several games where he may have been the difference for LSU. Walsh had a good season too (18-for-21, with two from beyond 50), but he wasn’t as much of a factor for his team, through no fault of his own.

Finally, I’ll just say this about my role in the voting: I’ve voted in preseason and postseason awards before, and I’ve never acted as the voice from the team I’m covering. Instead I try to vote from a perspective of the league as a whole. That’s why more than a few South Carolina fans got peeved at me for not voting for their guy in postseason basketball awards.

I’m sure a lot of this won’t stop the flow of invective. So I’ll just close by saying: Hey, it’s the holiday season. Everyone just grab a pole, perform a feat of strength, and maybe a Festivus miracle will occur! (Such as Green and Justin Houston coming back to school.)

32 comments:

Johnathan
said...

Again, I think you're right on everything except the Green pick.

Green still had one of the best seasons in the conference, and he did so in four less games. His numbers were better per game - and comparable on the whole - with Cobb's. The weirdest thing to me is that you voted Peterson twice, which tied your hands.

Having worked as a sportswriter - and having voted for postseason awards like this - I simply have never heard of voting the same player twice. Instead, I've seen ample instances of positioning Cobb at AP, putting Peterson at CB and sliding in someone like Green (or Jones) at the other WR slot.

The point isn't to say 'hey this guy is the best at this, this and this' but rather to grant him the overall honor. For some weird reason, you willingly denied voting for the player you have conceded - on two different posts - is the best in the conference, and it's so you could stick Peterson in two different spots (though, again, clearly Cobb is the better all-around player, while Peterson is the better pure athlete at his particular position).

I'll also say ... Aaron Murray is really good, but Marcus Lattimore is the freshman of the year in the SEC.

1. You didn't address the Lattimore v. Murray debate, and I'm curious to hear your take... I don't think any argument including the fact that USC had a more successful season is valid... Others said that he "single-handedly beat UF and UGA." No... that would be the USC defense that held our offense that averaged 34.25 to 6 points... I'll restate that his yards per average was worse than Ealey's or King's...

2. I don't think you should have admitted you consulted other sports writers... I think the idea behind your vote, is that it is that YOUR VOTE... You are the only voter that witnessed every single one of AJ's catches first hand... and every one of Murray's passes first hand... You are supposed to bring some degree of bias... that's called your perspective...

I don't think sports writers should be homers and glorify everything the team s/he's covering does, but I think as fan's we'd like to think that you like our team and it's players... You can say you like them as people as much as you want, but your vote for Fairley over Houston shows that you don't much care about character... Fairley had a marginal amount of more TFL's, Houston had a marginal amount of more Sacks... (and Houston had an INT, to boot) UGA actually had the better overall defense statistics... That's basically a wash and you go out of your way to choose the non-UGA player... you think an Auburn writer would do the same?

I agree with others, that I don't nearly enjoy reading this blog as much as when Hale was writing it... I'm not exactly sure why, but this type of thing will not help your image with the fan base... As you said, you respect our passion, but then you throw a hissy fit when we disagree with you... based on our passion.

Seth, at this point I think you should keep up with angering your reader base. This is by far the most interesting the blog has been all season. Post something about how you think David Pollack was overrated and Vince Dooley liked little boys.

Given that David had a better record than you and we thought he was a jinks, I would just hope that you are able to find employment elsewhere ASAP. With beat writers like you we might as well read the AJC.

Folks -- Spares us all the righteous indignation by some on here who are complaining about the complaining. In part, these blogs are written to get a reaction from readers, good or bad. Seth is a big boy and I doubt he expects bouquets for all of his work. None of this crap ("this" as in CFB) is all that important or meaningful, but we still follow and comment on it. No one is suggesting that Seth's vote it going to change the world or that somehow people have been harmed.

Seth -- Gale Sayers only played 6 years and is still in the HoF (in place of other guys who had longer careers) and is on every all-time Chicago Bear teams (along with Sweetness of course). Likewise, Herschel missed 25% of his college career (only played 3 out of 4 years), but is listed as one of the RBs on every all time greatest SEC team. No need to go on with this point, as I think it is obvious. At the end of the day, you are entitled to your opinion and you sure as heck don't have to carry water for UGA or any other team you are covering. Anyone who suggest that you do is clearly delusional.

Seth, it seems that the readers on this blog are pretty split as far their respect for your work. Some appreciate you, others don't. I don't... and it is because you seem to appreciate yourself more than anyone else appreciates you. You aren't going to improve your image with articles like this. Then again, you don't seem to care. Make sense?

ChrisDawg, Seth has deleted a number of my comments over the last couple of months... and I can tell you this, none of them seemed worthy of deleting. In fact, the only reason I can think that he deleted them was because I was critical of his opinion. Guess what the topic was? AJ Green. Very ironic. I made a comment that he didn't really seem to know much about AJ's career at UGA. I guess that's a sensitive topic... because he has mentioned a handful of times that he covered AJ in high school. Seems to be a bit of a sore spot for him... or a bragging point, nonetheless. Anyway, point is... when you read this on a blog post: "This post has been removed by the author." Don't always assume that the comment was deleted for the right reasons...

Seth, As always, you have made objective decisions like any good beat reporter should. Thanks you for having journalistic integrity and not just voting based on what the natives wearing red and black want you to. Personally, I agree with you you on Green...its close, but missing 4 games hurt his stats, and his season productivity.

Seth I have a question for you. You could either answer it in your mailbags or in the comments section. Just trying to get your opinion. I understand that postseason awards a lot of times don't go to the best players. They go to the best players on the best teams. Also other awards are more like most valuable player awards. Anyways here are my questions.

Who do you think the best wr in the SEC is? Nothing to do with games missed but just who is the best.

Who do you think is the better football player right now? Marcus Lattimore or Aaron Murray. Also nothing to do with which team won more games but just who is the better player? I know they play different positions but who has had a more impressive season in your view?

If you could explain your answers a little. I think this could help clear things up a bit.

Another thing I don't expect you to be a homer for UGA. You wouldn't be good at your job if you were. Fans like me or others here couldn't do your job because we couldn't be as objective as you.

I've said a couple times I think AJ Green and Julio Jones are talent-wise the two best in the league, though Jeffery might be right there with them too. The All-SEC team, however, is based on production this season.

Lattimore and Murray play two different positions, so it'll be interesting to watch over the course of their careers. But relative to their positions, Lattimore had a better season: Lattimore was second in the SEC in rushing, and first among RBs (Newton was first); Murray was third in passing yards and fourth in passing efficiency.

Most objective observers regard AJ as one of the best college athletes period. Certainly he is regarded as the best wr playing today by MOST. To leave him off a list that had room for TWO wrs is a disgrace.

You guys realize that Aj Green is not going to be on most all sec first teams right? Everyone is bashing Seth yet everyone everywhere seems to be voting the same way as Seth. I think Green should be first team too and I believe it is obvious but it's not gonna happen cause he missed four games.

I value Phil Steeles opinion on college football over just about anyone and even he had Green on his second team and he had three wr's on his all sec first team. Even though I respect his opinion I find that I don't agree with Phil Steeles all sec teams either.

For those who complain about the complainers, remember who is complaining and claiming that others need a life! If you don't like what anyone has to say, ignore it or move on.

That being said, Seth should be a baseball writer. Rather than doing the right thing he looks at stats, like most baseball idiots... err... writers do. I guess this is why Ron Santo did not make it to the Hall of Fame while he was alive. That same attitude keeps deserving players from receiving appropriate honors.

Go stick with your stats, Seth. AJ will have the last laugh when he plays on Sunday (probably the year after next since the NFL will probably have a lockout) and you're making minimum wage writing for a second rate newspaper.

I'm as big a Dawg fan as anyone, and I think you got it right on the Green pick. Missed 4 games due to his own stupidity, and it hurt his team. One of the best, certainly. All-SEC without that incident, no question. But the other 2 guys, based on the fact that they were there for their team every week, deserved to be first team. More receptions, more yards, didn't miss 1/3 of the season.

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About the Author

Seth Emerson has been covering the SEC and Georgia (on and off) since 2002. He worked at the Albany Herald from 2002-05, then spent five years at The State in Columbia, S.C., covering South Carolina. He returned to Athens in August of 2010, only to find that David Pollack and David Greene were no longer playing for the Bulldogs. Adjustments were made.

Emerson is originally from Silver Spring, Md., and graduated from Maryland in 1998 with a degree in journalism and a minor in getting lost on the way to practically everywhere. Then he spent four years at The Washington Post, covering small colleges, a couple NCAA basketball tournaments, and on one glorious day, was yelled at by Tony Kornheiser. It was probably at The Post that he also learned to write in the third person.

These days he lives in Athens with his beloved and somewhat wimpy dog, Archie. Together they fight crime at night in northeast Georgia, except on nights there is no crime, in which case they sit at home, sip on white wine and watch reruns of "Mad Men."